| Martin Tower | |
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| General information | |
| Type | Office |
| Location | 1170 8th Avenue Bethlehem, Pennsylvania |
| Coordinates | |
| Completed | 1972 |
| Height | |
| Roof | 330 feet (100 m) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 21 |
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Martin Tower
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| NRHP Reference#: | 10000401 |
| Added to NRHP: | June 28, 2010 |
The Martin Tower is the tallest building in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and the greater Lehigh Valley. The building has 21 stories and is 330 feet (100 m) tall, 8 feet taller than the PPL Building in Allentown. The building is located on Eighth Avenue in Bethlehem, just north of the interchange with Pennsylvania Route 378. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 28, 2010.
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In 1972, Bethlehem Steel built Martin Tower as a new headquarters for the company. The building was constructed in the shape of a cross rather than a more conventional square in order to create more corner and window offices. The original offices were designed by decorators from New York and included wooden furniture, doorknobs with the company logo, and handwoven carpets. The building was a testament to the economic heights the Lehigh Valley reached in the 1970s before the large economic turndown caused by the decline of the steel industry.
The architect for Martin Tower was Haines Lundberg Waehler.
Started in 1969, the building's bad luck reflected the declining strength of the Bethlehem Steel Company. The framework was completed in a short time, but there were insufficient funds to complete the elaborate building and the skeleton of the Martin Tower dominated the western horizon of Bethlehem for 2 years before work was resumed.
Currently, the entire building is vacant. There have been plans to create condominiums inside the tower, along with recreational and retail space on the property.
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